I have only tried this once but it worked great for me. When filling your new tank up with water. I place a garbage bag on top of the sand and pour the water onto that. The garbage bag will also float up with the rise in water. It helps with the cloudy mess. This was especially helpful for me because I was transfering tanks.

Thanks Jesse

Hey there Jesse from St. Cloud... thanks for the tip!

yeah, this is a variant on a theme. I've done this in the past too. Most use a kitchen plate or something to slowly pour over. I like the idea of covering the entire sand when filling with water and have even been known to "plastic wrap" a sandbed first :)

Welcome to TR! Enjoy the ride and please do keep sharing such great information

Dave

yes, i have use the cup/plate method many times, but not the bag.
thanks for the tip

Hi Jesse,

Gosh, I wish I would have known about this before the sandstorm :)

Carmie

Yeah, I have done the plate/bowl thing a few times and it doesnt work half as good as the bag

It is the simple things in life that alude me. :-(

Been there, done that, works great.

would a couple inch(maybe 6 inch?) pvc drain pipe tube with a drain pipe attachment buried in the sand slow the sand storm to a localise point

Do you guys always add your sand first and then the water? I've always done it the other way around....also producing a sand storm!

i have always done sand first then water..
but assumed it was from my freshwater days when we used gravel, that didn't produce sand storms..

So, you put in the sand and then freshwater and then the salt? or do you already have the saltwater all made up and then you add it in?

Christi,

Have the salt already mixed.

Dick

I'll never be able to mix that much saltwater (1600liters) all at once. I have two big vats that I can mix water, but that only gets me 400 liters. I guess I'll just have to add, mix, add, mix, etc., huh?

got a solution for you RB.
space permiting and plumbing required of course

there have been alot of advancement in inflateable temp pools in recent years.
ranging from a few hundred LTs to a few thousand
they come with a pump and filter to boot!

a pool shop could provide a covering also!
they are dirt cheap, i looked at one recently, it must have been at least 1000lt for a $100 -$150 smackos
i was looking into it for keeping cuttle fish & my beloved m-jacks, just wiped the notion of keeping my jacks outside cause i love em so much

Yeah - that's an idea...I could put it in our winter garden and then when needed run a tubing with pump and pump it into the tank....I'll check the prices out here...

at the very least ur young ones has a salt water pool to swim in after school

:mrgreen:

So, you put in the sand and then freshwater and then the salt? or do you already have the saltwater all made up and then you add it in?
i have the saltwater mixed first.
when i did my 100 gallon, i mixed it in 10 gallon buckets, tested and got it in the tank.
wasn't the easiest, or most efficient, but it worked for me

ur still lucky i guess rob thats its only a 10tripper at best job doing it that way!
but no-one can say your lazy8O

well, its not that big of a deal when filling from a RO unit, since it take hours to fill a 5 gallon bucket.. :)

plenty of break time.. :)

you can just play battleships inside your half empty tank. jk. make 5 gallon RO/DI kool-aid. that would be some bomb kool-aid.